Drier.



No. 673,4". Patented May 7, |901.

. L. AXTELL.

DB'IER. .um Model.) (Application filed Aug. 21, 1900.) 2 sheetssheet 2.

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M /6` /6 l WTNESSES; ,./g INVENTon M iid BY Y V -3 t l| Y /7 l VATTORNEY LINTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUCIUS AXTELL, OF TOMPKINS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO DAVID W.

' v LEWIS, OF SAME PLACE.

DRIER;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 673,41 1, dated May 7,1901. Application filed August 21, 1900. Serial No. 27,534.. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, LUcIUs AXTELL, of the town of Tompkins, county ofDelaware, and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Driers, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description. p

My invention relates to improvements in driers, and particularly to thatclass of driers which is adapted for use in treating casein curd oranalogous substances.

My present invention is an improvement on that shown in Letters Patentof the United States No. 629,644, dated April 25, 1899. The apparatusshown in the patent referred to Works well and is useful in many ways;but in some respects its Work is not quite satisfactory. For instance,in the apparatus shown in the patent the heat is admitted directly tothe cylinder containing the casein matter, the hot air being letdirectly into the cylinder at the end nearest the heater and passesthrough the matter contained in the cylinder and out at the oppositeend. As a result the casein is dried more quickly at one end of thecylinder than at the other, and it4 is difficult to have the matterequally treated at all parts of the cylinder.

One object of my present invention is to obviate this difficulty byintrod ucing and discharging the heated air in such a Way that anapproximately even temperature will be maintained in all parts of thecylinder, thus insuring a relatively perfect product.

Other objects of my invention are to produce an apparatus of this kindwhich is very simple and convenient and in which the heated air isexhausted from the same end of the cylinder in which it is admitted.

With these ends in view my invention consists of certain features ofconstruction and combination of parts, which Will be hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis speciiicatiom' in which similar figures of reference refer tosimilar parts throughout the several views.

Figure l is a broken side elevation, partly in longitudinal section, ofmy improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line 2 2 of Fig.l, and Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line of Fig. lplooking in thedirection of the arrow.

The cylinder 10 is in a general waylike that described in the patentreferred to and turns on a horizontal axis, the cylinder being closed atone end, as shown at 11, and preferably reinforced at necessaryintervals, as shown at 12, and provided with circular grooved tracks 13,which receive and ride on the edges of the friction-Wheels 14, thesebeing secured to the shafts 15, which are arranged parallel with thecylinder 10 and beneath the cylinder and at opposite sides of itscenter. Each shaft 15 is journaled in suitable brackets 16, which aresupport-ed on a hollowr base 17 of the apparatus, and one of the shafts15 is provided With a pulley 18 or equivalent driving means, so thatwhen the shaft is turned the wheels 14 will turn and a slow rotarymovement be imparted to the cylinder l0. The cylinder is provided atfrequent and necessary intervals with glass doors 19 to admit light tothe cylinder, this great quantity of light being essential to produce a`proper bleaching effect of the matter treated. All the aboveconstruction, with the exception of the drying means, is similar to thatin the patent referred to.

Arranged longitudinally within the cylinder, extending its full length,is a hollow spider 21, which has radial hollow arms 20, .extending tothe Wall of the cylinder, thus forming a series of pockets to containthe casein matter or curd, and by referring to Fig. 2 it will be noticedthat the doors 19 are arranged so as to come opposite the severalpockets. The ends of the cylinder are intern-ally closed by the screens23, which prevent the curd or casein matter from falling out at the endsof ,the pockets. In the drawings the spider 21 is shown as made of metalunperforated; but it will be understood that the metal may be perforatedat desired points without affecting the principle of the invention.

The hot air passes longitudinally through the bore of the spider 21 andthrough the holloW arms 2O thereof, passing back through pockets betweenthe arms, and the hot air is fed to the spider by a pipe 24, (see Fig.1,) which leads from the hollow base 17 and into IOO which the hot airrises from the steam-coil 25. Above the steam-coil and within the hollowbase is a deflector or horizontal partition 26, which is open at therear end, as shown at 27, and the air is forced rearward above thisdeiiector and around the pipe 24 by a fan or blower 29, which draws inthe air through the opening 2S and forces it forward, as shown by thearrows. The fan, as illustrated, is driven by a shaft 30, which isgeared, .as shown at 3l and 32, to a driving-shaftn 33, which has asuitable pulley 34 thereon; but it will be clearly understood that thismethod of driving the fan and of taking in the air is immaterial, andthe fan may be located differently, if desired, and the air may beforced forward in any convenient way without affecting the principle ofthe invention.

The cylinder lO is reduced at its front end, as shown at 35, and the airwithin the cylinder is exhausted through the opening 36 of this reducedend, passing into the casing 37, which is divided at ,a point just belowthe mouth of the cylinder by a horizontal partition 3S, which thusseparates the incoming and outgoing air. The exhaust is discharged intothe pipe 39, being assisted by the fan 40, which is located at the baseof the pipe 39 and is driven by the shaft 41, which connects by gears 42and 43 with the shaft 30, already referred to. Obviously, however, thefan 40 may be driven in any convenient way, and while it is desirable tohave fans near the inlet and outlet of the apparatus-one forcing the airforward and the other exhaustingstill the apparatus can be used withonly one fan without affecting the principle of the invention.

VhenV the apparatus is to be used, it is loaded with the matter to betreated, this matter being placed in the several pockets between thehollow arms 20 of the spider 2], and the cylinder is then slowlyrevolved, the matter therein being turned over and`over and sliding fromone wall of a pocket to the next. Meanwhile the air forced forward bythe fan 29 passes around the pipes of the coil 25, up through the pipe24, and through the spider 21 and the hollow arms thereof to the rearend of the cylinder, as shown in Fig. l, suflcient space being left toform a chamber l0a at this point, and from here the air passes backthrough the matter contained in the several pockets of the cylinder andfinally out through the mouth 26, casing 37, and pipe 39. It will benoticed that the part of the spider nearest the pipe 24 will be hottest;but the air will be hottest where it enters the rear end of thecylinder, so that while the curd or other matter in the pockets of thecylinder will be most heated by contact with the metal at the front endof the cylinder the matter will be most heated by the air at the rearend of the cylinder. Thus an equalization of temperature and of dryingeffect is maintained.

I have shown and described the foregoing apparatus as adapted for use intreating casein curd; but I do not lirni'tJ the invention to thispurpose, as it can be used for treating many other things.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A drier comprising a rotatable body, a hollow spider arrangedlongitudinally in the body and provided with radial hollow armsextending to the wall of the body and forming pockets between them,means for forcing air through the spider in one direction, and means fordriving the air back through the pockets in the opposite direction.

2. An apparatus of the kind described, comprising a rotatable bodyhaving an exit at one end and achainber at the other, a hollow spiderarranged longitudinally in the body and provided with hollow armsextending to the body and forming pockets between them, and aninlet-pipe delivering into the spider.

3. A drier comprising a rotatable body havingachamber at one end and amouth or exit at the other, va hollow spider arranged longitudinallyinthe body and provided with hollow arms extending to the walls ofthe bodyand forming pockets between them, an inlet-pipe delivering into thefront end of the spider, and means for forcing air through `the spiderin one direction and discharging it through the pockets and out of themouth of the body in the other direction, substantially as described.

4. An apparatus of the kind described, comprisingarotatable body havingone endclosed and the other provided with a dischargemouth, a casing atthe mouth of the body, said casing being provided with a dischargepipe,an air-heating apparatus below the rotatable body, a hollow spiderextending longitudinally through the body and provided with radialhollow arms forming pockets between them, a pipe leading from theair-heating apparatus to the front end of the spider, and means forforcing air from the heating apparatus through the said pipe and forwithdrawing the air back through the rotatable hotly and out through themouth and discharge-pipe, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

LUOIUS AXTELL. Witnesses:

WILLIAM J. SHAKELTON, NORA J. FLOWER.

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